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Icemann Rankings Service
Icemann Rankings Service (IRS) is a multi-federation rankings service provided on the GFedWrestling.com website. The Concept In January 2009, Luis Malave, better known by his eWrestling character "The Icemann" Luis Malave, made an announcement on the GFed Forums declaring his intention with the concept. In the announcement, Luis informed the GFed Community that he intended to scout and rank the top five ePromotions and top fifteen eWrestlers within the network monthly. Also announced was the prospect of hosting both In-Character and Out-of-Character bi-weekly interviews with some of GFed's top talents, and a special movie review done by handler El Nimrodo. From that moment on, Luis has read (or at the very least skimmed) thousands of roleplays and graded hundreds of roleplays. To be eligible for the top roleplayer rankings, one has to first make it onto the "IRS Shortlist" (the shortlist isn't a very short list at all, for it usually contains upwards of 65 handlers). IRS closed down towards the end of 2009 so that Luis can reopen his own successful promotion-Pure Class Wrestling . The Criteria While scouting feds and handlers, the IRS has a set rubric of what it is looking for. Here is that list: Fed Criteria When looking for the top feds, we look at the following set of categories, all on a 1-10 scale (with 10 being the best and 1 being the worst) to base our rankings: Fed Design & Features In this category, we look at a fed's layout and design, as well as any features that it may support. With fed design, we're looking specifically at layout and organization, checking out whether the welcome page is grammatically accurate or not, and things of that nature. Some features that are a nice touch that could be included and helpful to a fed's score are: radio shows, information on the upcoming events and "touring schedules," a graphical artwork page, weekly (or at least somewhat regularly updated) columns and commentaries, and other custom pages. One should be careful, however, because useless and out-of-date features, along with ugly and distracting graphics, could be a detriment to the overall score for this category. Atmosphere In this category, what we're looking at is the Out-of-Character atmosphere within the GFed. By OOC atmosphere, we're referring to the OOC/Discussion Board and whether it's active and lively, and whether the handlers (and management for that matter) are a positive and helpful to one another. Detriments to this portion of the scoring are lots of inactivity, both OOC and IC wise, or in-fighting. Talent This category is pretty self-explanatory, but for those who need clarification, allow me to make it. In this portion of the criteria, what we here at IRS look at is the overall talent-level of the roleplayers within a fed. A fed with lots of talented roleplayers will receive a high score in this category, while a fed with average rpers will score averagely or a fed whose handlers have poor roleplaying ability will score poorly. Results In this category, we're looking at the results published for each fed. To score well in this category, a fed's results has to be readable, coherent, and a clean-looking layout. Also what can help in this category are non-simulated results. Simulated results often make the fed look cheap, and implies to readers that the owner(s) couldn't be bothered putting in the work to write results. Even shorthand, summary-like results are better than Zeus Pro simulated results, and result in a higher criteria score. However, we here at IRS know that simulated results are the norm (for better or worse), and because of such, although you won't score an eight or higher, as long as a fed has readable, coherent, and a non-eye sore layout, then even with simulated results, a fed can score five-to-seven points in this category. Management Although all categories are rated on the same one-to-ten scale, and ultimately merit the same worth when coming up with a final fed score, the management category may be the most important category of them all, because it basically takes elements from all the other categories. In this particular category, we here at IRS will look at how effective a fed's management team is. If management is active in trying to create the best fed he could, then a fed will score high in this category. However, how can one tell if management is doing the best it could? Well, you can't really tell...but there are some things that help give the impression: promotion of a fed on the main GFed Forums via press releases and fed hype, active fed recruiting (and trying to bring in top-talent), making sure to update the fed, creating a quality OOC atmosphere, and being able to resolve (and/or prevent) fed-conflict. (Editor's Note: And encouraging "value rps" or even allowing it will hurt your score in this category as well! Don't do it!) Roleplayer Criteria When looking for the top roleplayers, we look at the following set of categories, all on a 1-10 scale (with 10 being the best and 1 being the worst) to base our rankings: Depth In this category, we're looking at how much information was covered, character development, continuity of storyline, and match focus. By information being covered, we're referring to the overall development of the story; straying too far off the original point of the rp, however, will probably hurt the score of the roleplay. When we say character development, we're referring to any growth and change the character will certainly go through as time passes. Continuity of storyline refers to any current storyline and angle one has going on, and match focus refers to the attention one will make upon their upcoming match (if applicable). The length of a roleplays is also factored into this grade. If we think that an rp was cut too short and/or ended abruptly, or the rp was too long, then it may be negatively affected. A good rp doesn't have a set length...what it should have is a good flow and the ability to keep the reader(s) interested. IRS looks at length like we do chapters in books...some chapters are longer than others, but all that matters is the quality of the story. It's always quality over quantity, remember that. Precision In this category, we look at how accurate information given in a roleplay is, along with how well one is able to get their point across. Entertainment Value All grading and scoring is subjective to the critic, however, this may be the most subjective of all categories. In this category, all that is being looked at is the enjoyment the reader got out of the roleplay. Entertainment could come from a multitude of ways: a roleplay could be hilarious, thought-provoking, touching, scary, action-packed...there's many genres of writing, and a writer has his pick of it. The score to this category just tells how much entertainment the reader got out of the roleplay. Creativity & Originality In this category, we're looking for, well...creativity and originality in a roleplay. Scenes and stories that have been done to death (whether it is an 'efed clichÃ©' or the only type of roleplay a writer does) will bring this portion of the scoring down. Scenes and stories that are at least somewhat new and refreshing could help with scoring well in this category. To score well in this category, one would have to try and be creative, but realistic at the same time (although, if you can prove the unrealism, you don't have to be totally realistic...for example, one of the better roleplayers I know handled a character that was an elf; a tall elf, but an elf nevertheless. But he had such a great back-story, as well as convincing roleplays, and all that jazz it worked very well), and details can help too. Spelling & Grammar Ah yes, the beloved spelling and grammar category. A missed period or comma here, and a typo there, won't seriously damper the score to this category, but the more spelling and grammar related problems seen will definitely hurt. If I'm reading an rp, and I feel like ripping my eyeballs out because the text on the screen is written so poorly, one could be damn sure that I will score that roleplay poorly in this category. One thing we have to remember is, a that roleplay IS a WRITTEN piece of work. Now, for those wrestling fans that just want to play as their favorite wrestler, or want to get a little creative and make up their own wrestler, spelling and grammar is not that important to them. And IRS will not bad mouth these individuals. But one has to understand that one is posting things that people have to read. To score decent in this category, all one would probably need is a passing of an 8th grade English class. A roleplayer doesn't need to be a literary genius. But roleplays are pieces of work that are going to be judged. And we here at IRS do judge. The Credit The IRS was the brainchild of Luis Malave. JuggaloXtreme helps out by donating G-Credits, time, and has created most, if not all, IRS images. Nimrod provides movie reviews on the site and offers his time and opinion when it comes to scouting the handlers and feds. Mr. Parasyte helped come up with the name IRS after names like GNN and GSPN were dismissed. Tha Joka was to have a column featured on the site but had to drop out due to offline obligations. His continued support is appreciated within the community. In June of 2009, Tha Joka donated $200 to Icemann himself for his appreciation of the IRS. Thus far, the highest ranking handler within the GFedWrestling.com network was John Bronson (handle: Compton Effect), after he scored a 46.5 out of 50. Mike Park has thus far been the only repeating #1 handler in the rankings and has held that spot more times than anyone else. Global Wrestling Federation is the only fed to receive an A+ grade for top feds.